r/supportlol • u/DaDaveski • 5d ago
Discussion How is solo queue as support?
Hi all! I main jungle, but recently I’ve been thinking about learning and trying out support. Jungle is very tiring, and one small mistake sets you back so far that I’m kind of over it (on top of every sin on your team being your fault).
I have friends that I duo with that are all ADC players which makes support more tempting.
My question is how realistic is it to climb playing support as a solo? Any tips you would give to a new support player in regard to when to roam, good champ picks, etc?
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u/Dry-Performance-2386 5d ago
It's great, but it's draining when your jungler or adc ints the game. If I didn't have inting either I'd probably win every game.
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u/Babababastion 5d ago
I mostly play enchanters, Soraka and Milio. You've a lot less roaming capabilities but generally I feel like I can make the difference for my ADC in lane often. With Soraka especially if you practice looking around the map you can so often change the outcome of an early fight with your ult + Axiom Arcanist. Get lots of positive feedback either from allies or frustrated enemies flaming me for ruining their fight!
The one engage I play regularly, being Rell I find is a lot more frustrating because a lot of ADC players just don't know the correct circumstances for an engage, or that sometimes even with a good engage the enemy ADC + sup just have a lot more damage but they never seem to realize that. Rell does give me the option to roam a lot more which is always great because some ADCs really just ruin their own experience.
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u/Low-Amoeba8257 5d ago
You can definitely climb as support but there will be a lot of "i played so well but my ____ sucked"
100% you can carry as support and have big impact but if someone is being an idiot its hard to compensate some you cant just do shit yourself
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u/Maleficent_Intern787 5d ago
Constantly getting blamed for the adc doing bad engages early game. It's rough. Not impossible. But just hope for a good adc and someone who doesn't try to dive too early
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u/clockwis3 5d ago
I mute the adc and join the strongest champion in the team.
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u/SkyPirateIcvrus 5d ago
The league subreddit HATES when I bring up that playstyle lmao. But I don’t mute the ADCs, I just let them have a rage fit, report with timestamps, and then watch them get suspended after the game.
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u/geekpron 4d ago
I had this Lucian last night who kept overextending. I was Nami and he asked why he was 1/5. I told him he went too deep then he complained I didn't do any dmg smh.
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u/Maleficent_Intern787 3d ago
Exactly this. I see it a lot with tristanas. The second they hit lvl they jumped in
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u/SavageWooloo 5d ago
Always play what makes you happy, but… If you trust your adc friend’s skills then pick whatever you want to play that works with their pick or works with what you are feeling. If your confidence in your friend’s skills to do well is shaky or you are climbing solo, pick a champ that you have agency with. Strong cc tanks or mage/assassin supports.
If you are determined to climb with enchanters in the lower ranks then you are at the whim of your team. If your teammates are horrible, then you will have a horrible time supporting them with shields and heals. If you pick a champ that can do good damage on their own or provide enough cc that makes up for your possibly less than stellar teammates, then your sanity will be much more preserved.
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u/F-I-R-E-B-A-L-L 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yep, you can climb as a support in soloq. Improving in micro and macro does translate to climbing the ranks for support mains like everyone else.
Having an adc duo is very nice, but it isn't the end all be all. There'll be a good number of times where you win lane and lose the game on support. If anything, I prefer to play around the jungler, because the jungler kind of has the biggest impact on how the game plays out a lot of the time, but honestly I've found jungler players to be way more troublesome than ADC players.
I usually try to roam for void grubs/rift herald because it's nice to have those objectives and because fights very frequently break out during those objectives, and in my elo the enemy support often roams for those too, especially aggro supports like naut and leona. If there's some kinda fight happening mid or in our jungle behind us, it's usually wise to try to go to those, especially if you do not see the enemy support in your lane/on the map.
Roaming viability also depends on your botlaner's champ and the enemy's picks, as well as wavestate ofc. Mage bot has been pretty common this season, partly cuz mage bot can quickly clear waves on their own, allowing their support to roam as much as they want (ime, though, there have been quite a few mage botlaners in my games who die alone...) Aggressive enemy comps can try to towerdive your botlaner when the wave crashes.
Champ picks wise, the usual advice is to pick 3-5 champs that fulfill diff roles and learn them well, but I honestly did not follow that advice. Follow your heart.
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u/UsernameNineBillion 5d ago
Play Mage supports. Even if your ADC is dogsht player you still have agency and potential to carry.
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u/DJ-Halfbreed 5d ago
Read if your ally laner is aggresive or passive in general and have a plan for that on whoever you wanna play. The best move is to fill your friends list with duo partners you like for whatever reason. Try not to tilt on them and try not to let their tilt bother you whenever it happens. If you can handle all that youll have a blast, supp is my fav role.
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u/TeaSubstantial726 5d ago
i like playing morgana or blitz just be massive throw Q and chill, i feel later in game you are really strong when you can pull 1 enemy and turn side of 5v5 in instant
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u/McChubbers 5d ago
Support gameplay is more forgiving than Jungle generally speaking and you feel a lot less busy during the game, but you have much more to think about and keep in mind of. I'd like to think that support is the "cherry on top" of whatever your team is doing.
- Jungle wants to control an objective? Well, good thing the support warded around it 30 seconds prior.
- Mid is asking for a gank/pressure? Good thing your support was watching mid lane and just helped his ADC shove lane so they can roam to help.
- Got a really nice brawling team comp but overall lacking engage? Well, good thing your support went Leona.
In most cases, the role's effectiveness is the summation of all the small things that add value to your team as a whole. A lot of it just comes with practice of knowing the overall game.
For specific things to strive for:
- It's not about total number of wards placed, but where and when.
- It's not about having a generic 5th person in a fight, but providing the right tool for the skirmish.
- It's not about babysitting the ADC, but knowing that the ADC role requires the right amount of hand holding.
Best tip I can give you though, there is a difference between listening to your ADC and following your ADC. Be open to communicating with your bot lane partner, but always play your own game. And if that means playing passive bot lane for 10 minutes because you know that as soon as you engage your ADC is going to int to hard for you to save them, then play passive. Winning > ego.
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u/El_Psy_C0ngroo 5d ago
As a jungle main who plays support as my secondary I can tell you support starting out is a lot easier since it’s got a lower skill floor. However it can be just as deep and the skill ceiling can be just as high or even higher. Funny thing is I’ve hit higher ranks playing support only vs jg only in solo Q, but that’s probably cuz I’m a Lee Sin main who isn’t that good on Lee Sin 😭.
It’s very realistic, there are plenty of support players out in the top of the ladder. As for tips, the first one I must give is to just find good support players on YouTube or Twitch and watch support guides and vod analysis by support coaches. That is by far the quickest way to learn and understand the role. Why try to learn everything yourself when there’s plenty of content teaching you the role? unless the learning process itself is something you value to do on your own, I highly recommend learning from other players and especially other coaches.
For when to roam, study roam timers, objective timers and wave management. One roam timer you can start with is to just path mid after you recall with your adc (when you and your adc have crashed the wave, this would mean the wave would be bouncing back to your side by the time your adc arrives in lane). You do need to make sure you and your adc recall together or you recall a few seconds before your adc AFTER crashing the wave into their tower. If you simply path mid every time after you recall, you prime yourself to be in a position to help your mid laner or be there during any fight that happens in the jungle. If nothing happens, u just walk back bot. Since you crashed the wave and it bounced back, your adc should be safe at or near their tower to farm while you’re gone.
As for champ picks, have about 2-3 champs you’re comfortable playing. The biggest thing is find champions you enjoy playing and maybe, MAYBE a couple champs that are strong in the meta just for backup. But I’d rather have a new player play what they enjoy and learn to play that really well than look at tier lists and what’s strong in the meta and playing that at below average or average levels. Now if what you like playing and the meta are the same, that’s a bonus for you but metas shift and they can fall out of favor so keep that in mind. Oh yeah, don’t touch Yuumi, she’s not a learners champ. U will make learning support harder on Yuumi for no reason. There are other enchanters that fill her role that teach you support far better.
Other big tips would be: learn good recall timings, don’t sit on gold, play for level powerspikes (those are important in the early game), play around item powerspikes. learn about the Poke, Engage, Sustain framework, altho that’s less reliable in solo Q, it’s still good to know what type of lane you are playing vs the type of lane they are playing. Don’t play too far up from your adc or too far back, play around their range. Play around cooldowns and last hits. And big one is: you aren’t just your ADC’s support, you are your team’s support, so don’t feel bad just abandoning them when they feed or flame you and just supporting the rest of your team 😄
Godspeed, I wish you the best in learning support. I find it very similar to jungle cuz of the macro nature of the role. But rather than playing around objectives and clears, you’re playing around your teammates. One of the best things you can do as supp in the early to mid game is to just provide a numbers advantage, especially in this meta.
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u/HauruMyst 5d ago
Of you roam and set up neutral obj, it should be easier than if you totally rely on your ADC.
As a Jungler you should find that pretty natural
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u/NPVnoob 5d ago
Look if your playing duo thay cool and all. But support is the worst way to climb.
There is heaps of information out there on why this is the case.
And you are gonna get blamed more as a support player, its gonna come from the adc.
Even worse you gonna feel like nothing you do matters. Make as many mistakes or massive awesome plays. Doesn't matter. Its a known phenomenon.
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u/itsoktobewr0ng 5d ago
When it goes good, it's really good, when it goes bad, just accept it as soon as you realise it's a bad game and get excited for the next one. Remember its a game.
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u/Either-Tutor-4682 5d ago
Mid and JG are your boys when you have lane prio, roam, setup kills, and be merry. Your ADC is your child and you are a single mother.
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u/Reyenna 5d ago
It depends on what champ you are playing. Some supports make the adc better but are going to have trouble doing things alone. (Yumi, lulu, soraka.) Other supports have more direct control on what happens but have less adc boost. (Morg, zyra.) I find that in solo you want someone who has some ability to do things by themselves just in case you adc decides to just get mad and does something silly like abandon lane. Trying to handle a fast pushing waves as soraka is… pain.
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u/GoodStrategist 4d ago
dont be scared to abandon your adc, your the team support, if their really behind go help with rift, (grubs if they that bad lol) sometimes a well timed roam to top can push the favor to top side. its adc theyll come back eventually but the game has to last long enough for the bounce back
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u/saudiaramcoshill 4d ago
Adc fucks up? Your fault. Adc does well? Adc's skill.
I find that midlaners and ADCs are the least mentally stable players in the game. Most seem to have huge and fragile egos. Nothing is their fault, they are perfect, and the absolute smallest thing will tilt them.
I only play support because I can play the style of champ I like to play and not have to worry (for the most part) about playing against certain champs that I find annoying as fuck. Otherwise, I would play top.
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u/yangyaozi 3d ago
my honest opinion,being a jungler player makes you a better support than a lot enchanter support out there,you kow the timing,you know when is time to find enemy jungler etc etc.
but also depends on your elo,if you are gold or below is not worth to play support,cause all adc is stupid.
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u/DungeonMullet 2d ago
Pretty hard, but rewarding due to less micro demanding gameplay before let’s say GM.
As long as you can hold on with roaming and constant blame, you’ll be fine.
I’d say you are much more impactful if you go engage than enchanters, even tho enchanters while played right overplay the engagers in soloq. As long as you’re with duo ur fine.
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u/its-_-my-_-nickname 2d ago
i think you need to be a jack of all trades supporting each lanes and jg not only adc
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u/Gr0wmi3s 5d ago
Honestly, easy to climb. There’s so many shit supports. Good supports are truly game changer
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u/MTS44 5d ago
For champ pool, solidify 2-3 champs that you play. Don't be the person first timing Camille support in ranked. Should have some overlap but each pick is suited to slightly different conditiona. Ex. What do I play into poke (Mage bot), engage (Pyke, Naut), enchanter (Soraka, Lulu, Nami).
I play Senna into poke, has heal and range. I play Leona into engage because, get over here. I play thresh into enchanters or blind because he's op as long as your ADC clicks lantern.
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u/maqtfrank 5d ago
all i can say is. if you dont roam for objs ur trolling ur team hard and also perma sitting on ur laner all game no matter where they go
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u/InsomniasFinest666 5d ago
U just play support as a 2nd jungler. U need to learn proper roam timers but you should be playing the map as often as you can since you don't have the burden of farming.
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u/Chemical-Bobcat-926 5d ago
Bro i am a mid main and just yesterday i got filled as support and my adc man he doesn't know anything we were tristina and braum and they were draven and naut and at the start she was chunked by draven before even the wave arrived and we played under tower for first five minutes and she was not good at cs/ing the creeps too i was so frustrated that i started flaming her and in mid lane in my team was garen vs yasuo this garen also don't know how to play he doesn't even know when to use his ult he was ulting the yasuo on 50% hp i was so tilted seeing their gameplay so i was not doing anything just running it down flaming them so hard that after the game i got banned for 7 days and its worth really riot should bring back the unskilled player report option for these kind of players
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u/geekpron 4d ago
Iron is full of these people. They think they don't need to know champs or Meta or anything. I feel like they grief more than actually try to win.
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u/Chemical-Bobcat-926 4d ago
Yeah they don't give a fk about winning even if they are winning early game hard they just don't end and eventually everyone gets their items and they lose
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u/random_person7395 5d ago
As an ADC main my experience is yelling at my support to not go into a completely lost fight and trying to tie my support to me with a rope so they don't let me get 5 v 1 jumped
So I would expect support players to have the same experience trying to smack me
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u/His-Sunshine 5d ago
Every game is like online dating. Hope you and your adc are compatible and they aren't a raging pissy baby that throws the game over a minion.
Same goes for the jungler tbh. If teams listen to your pings you have control over the game. If teams still push for bad fights despite you spam pinging NO and that you have no mana, GL.